The major objective was to ascertain the relationship of varying types of preoperative information to patient responses to surgery, and any interaction effects between type of information given and level of preoperative anxiety on patient responses. Subjects were 120 persons undergoing gingivectomy at the Periodontal Clinic, School of Dentistry, U of M. The experimental conditions consisted of four levels of preparatory information: 1) descriptions of physical sensations typically experienced during the dental procedure, 2) descriptions of cognitive, self-controlling behavior which can be initiated during the procedure, 3) combination of sensory and self-controlling information, and 4) control information. Distress during surgery was measured by: 1) items from the Profile of Moods Scale (POMS), 2) a 10 point Likert-type distress scale, 3) a self-statement inventory, and 4) ratings of patient adjustment by the dental student. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions. Prior to surgery, level of preoperative anxiety was measured. The subject then heard the experimental message which had been audio-taped. After the surgical procedure, the subject completed the instruments for the dependent measures. A 2 x 4 factorial design was used. The factors were two levels of presurgery anxiety (high and low) and the four levels of preparatory information. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance technique will be utilized to estimate the main and interaction effects of the independent variables upon level of distress during surgery. Data analysis is currently in progress.